A Hot Chick in the Comic Shop

[Darsc Zacal]

That's why I'm going to do it the old fashioned way.

 

 

 

A net and a club.

 

You're not talking about the inter"net" and night"clubs" are you...

[Loim]

I am a poster child for lack of social skills. Anyway, any time I start feeling superior all I have to do is come to these boards, and see all the amazing work, and realize, yep I'm not all that.

 

I can find interest in almost everything. I'm probably not going to ever go to a biker rally, but I'll sit and talk bikes with you any day. I love comics, but I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of them the way some do. So, I guess I'm fake. About the only thing I really know are guns, and not even that anymore since most of the ones I like are old, and I stopped keeping up with them after about 1995.

[Thes Hunter]

He's talking about doing it the ol' fashion way.

Edited October 8, 2013 by Thes Hunter

[Shakandara]

I think it really took off after geek became chic. At one point it may have even been a legit gripe against fashionable posers. Then, like many things, it went too far and turned 20 kinds of stupid.

 

See, even this I don't understand. I guess I've pegged it as a lack-of-maturity thing; it's like high school cliques. I attend a lot of the "major" cons back in my late 20's and early 30's (GenCon, Orgins, etc), and did a fairly varied array of events during those conventions. Never once did something like this ever come up. I'm now in my 40's, and outside of regular pilgrimages to Reaper for ReaperCon, my last "major" was Origins like 10 years ago.

 

It wasn't until about 6 months ago that one of my close friends (a female gamer that I've know for the last 15 years or so, and about 8 years my junior) posted a meme-like thing about "fake gamer girls" on Facebook. My gaming groups have always been... diverse (sex, race, sexual orientation), and it really hasn't ever been something I'd given much thought to. My response to her post was, "I never had to check your credentials, you were always just 'you' to me."

 

I'm not sure why anyone feels the need (other than inflating their own ego) to make anything more of it than that.

 

~v

[klawzie]

This blog post I bookmarked awhile back covers "fake gamer girls" (amongst a few other related topics).

 

http://peterwoodworth.com/2013/07/29/table-manners-guys-we-need-to-talk/

[DixonGrfx]

Hmmm... Women in gaming. It baffles me that anyone would be condescending to a potential gamer for any reason, much less because of gender. I am a nerd and love my RPGs. Anyone that will let me bend their ear about how awesome and fun RPG gaming can be, I am more than happy to bring them into the circle.

 

The first time my game group had a women at the table, she was the girlfriend of a fellow player. She was fascinated by the game and learned fast. But we ran into the same issues you have with any new male player. She picked the wrong race and class to play the first time and it was rough going for the first three sessions.

 

"OK, what kind of character do you want?"

 

New girl: "I want to cast spells and kill stuff. Can I be a wizard?"

 

"You bet. Lets get you all set up."

 

It was awful. She didn't like all the rules, she was erratic and made poor decisions. She never played her alignment and cheated like crazy. ... End of third game night, she rolls a critical miss casting fireball. I used it to kill her PC. That wizard was done for. "Man, that's crazy! Talk about going out in a blaze of glory.... Don't worry though, get with me after the game is over and well set you up for next week."

 

me: "I was reading this week about something fun I think you'll like. Have you ever given thought to how much fun it might be to play a pixie?"

 

Once I got her into a PC that fit her game style the game was never the same. It was better than ever before! You never knew how things were going to go down.

 

Now I am running a campaign at home for my wife and daughters. It's almost exclusively women playing. We have guests and other regular players. But if there is one thing that I have learned over the last years about women and gaming is that they aren't all that different from male gamers. They want to have fun. And it's my job to make sure that fun is being had.

[Doug Sundseth]

But we ran into the same issues you have with any new male player. She picked the wrong race and class to play the first time and it was rough going for the first three sessions.

 

I've had exactly that problem. The last long campaign I played in with my wife, she was playing a bard. And with a little help she was really effective, but not having a great time, in part because she wasn't into the kind of social interaction that is the best part of being a bard, and in part because she was truly a support character.

 

This time, she's playing a two-handed-weapon fighter and dishing out appalling amounts of damage. And she loves it. When she closes with something somebody's falling down (usually the bad guy, but sometimes her). It's exactly the sort of character that she should probably have been playing the first time, and it's not at all what she thought she wanted to play.

 

And now we're having a similar problem with one of our male characters, who is feeling useless (or at least underpowered) as a monk/rogue.

 

As an aside, in 3.5/PF, multi-classing is a huge trap in almost every case. New players (especially) see all the cool things that every class can do and want them ... all of them. And then 6 levels later they complain about being underpowered relative to the opposition and/or the other players. I try to tell them in advance, but I'm not going to try to force them to make good choices.

[Slendertroll]

That's one of the things I really love about 4e. For all that people complain about sameyness, it's at least really tough to make a broken (OP or UP) character. Incredibly newb-friendly in that way. A dwarven wizard/rogue won't be optimized, but it'll definitely be playable.

[buglips*the*goblin]

I will say that absolute equality among mixed gender gamers is highly unlikely, though. Even the most openminded of you ladies on here would probably not be quick to agree if your significant other decided he wanted to convert the coffee table in the living room into a sandbox.

 

But most dudes would probably think that's an excellent home improvement project. Some differences can never be resolved.

[Thes Hunter]

I don't know about that Bug... but I do find that in relationships it's one person who wants to have so many minis you just use the minis (In cases) as furniture, and another who is more sensible about the whole thing. It's not always the guy who wants the sand table as the coffee table, the genders can be reversed.

 

Now if both members of the couple want the sand/coffee table with the furniture made out of minis... then holy hell... I think the world would implode.

 

(or the relationship would, because that could lead to a situation where both enabled and multiplied the mini lust until it because incompatible with a healthy functioning level in this reality.)

[kimbers]

There will be a WHOLE ROOM in my imaginary/future home for that. No need to convert the coffee table (says she with the red painted pegboard).

[smokingwreckage]

I have a double garage just waiting for the funds for full lining and an aircon. My wife supports this wholeheartedly.

[Citrine]

The name of this thread reminds me of a pretty good movie from Iceland about this exact topic. The movie is called Astropia, 2007 Icelandic film directed by Gunnar B. Guðmundsson, and it is available on Netflix with English subtexts.

 

Plot: The film revolves around Hildur, a national celebrity and socialite who has to look for a job when her boyfriend Jolli is sent to prison. She finds a job at Astrópía, a store that sells role playing books and her immersion into geek culture changes her outlook on life.

 

We really liked it, and recommend it highly, it is a bit silly at times though.

[buglips*the*goblin]

I need to find more ladies like the ladies I find here. Now I know they're out there. My last girlfriend said I was wasted in this place. I'm now inclined to agree.

 

Handy, funny goblin with sense of humor seeks fun, nice, cute hooman geeklady for epic crazy funtimes and world conquest. Must enjoy small figures, games, and tables of sand. Bonus points if fond of stanky shoes.

[DixonGrfx]

Buglips, your biggest issue would most likely be, "willing to live in Canada" .... :D